blocking the plate question

[rwest]

Originally Posted by reccer

Don't put a Jack Tatum on them, but get some contact to draw Blue's attention.

I believe NFHS added the malicious contact rule a couple years ago because of coaches teaching this exact tactic. It was explained to me that umpires weren't calling obstruction when it had no bearing on the play. So coaches started instructing their players to initiate contact to draw the obstruction call. Now, if this is done maliciously we can get an out even with no play involved. The case play that was presented was the typical play at first, where the first baseman doesn't get out of the way and the runner collides with F3 intentionally to draw the OBS.

Coach, IMHO, it would be wise to avoid teaching this tactic to your players. Otherwise, you might get an out and then an ejection when you argue the call.